Worker's Control and Revolution in Venezuela

By Iain Bruce / Socialist Resistance

In this video as part of his contribution to a recent meeting entitled “Neoliberalism and Resistance in Latin America” held be Socialist Resistance in London, Iain Bruce, journalist and author of The Real Venezuela: Making Socialism in the 21st Century, gives his analysis of the worker control movement in Venezuela, particularly focusing on the Guyana region of basic steel, iron, and aluminium industries in the east of the country.

Dec 6th 2011 at 9.55am

In this video as part of his contribution to a recent meeting entitled “Neoliberalism and Resistance in Latin America” held be Socialist Resistance in London, Iain Bruce, journalist and author of The Real Venezuela: Making Socialism in the 21st Century, gives his analysis of the worker control movement in Venezuela, particularly focusing on the basic steel, iron, and aluminium industries in the Guyana region in east of the country.

Iain gives an introduction to the recent history of the worker control movement in Venezuela, mentioning the experiments in worker control in the Inveval and Invepal factories, which were both nationalised in 2005 following demands and occupations by the workforce.

The discussion then addresses the complex situation in the basic industries in Guayana. He describes a situation in which the political support for worker control on behalf of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and the workers’ struggle from below to realise a worker control project in the Guyana industries, is met by obstacles including the bureaucracy of the Venezuela state, the local pro-Chavez state governor Francisco Rangal Gomez, and sectarian trade union practices.

He concludes with a wider characterisation of the current dynamics of the Bolivarian process as a type of “dual power” struggle which “goes right through the middle of the figure of Chavez”. You can see the rest of the videos from the meeting by clicking here.